Santiago's Subway Setback

While I was in Chile last January, the capital was preparing for a new transporation program that was going to connect the current metro (subway) system with the bus system. Many saw the writing on the walls and predicted major congestion. The following is part of an article that came across my desk this afternoon explaining the problem.
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CHILE: SANTIAGO’S SUBWAY REACHES TOKYO CONGESTION LEVELS

(March 1, 2007) Santiago’s world-renowned subway system, called the Metro by locals or the underground by others, set an all-time record Tuesday by carrying 1.6 million passengers. While Metro traffic was expected to increase as the city’s Transantiago transit overhaul integrated the bus and underground rail systems, frustration and delays with the new bus routes have lead many Santiguinos to flood the underground system.
Metro traffic was up nearly 80 percent during morning and afternoon rush hours, and riders on several lines were forced to endure a density of nearly seven persons per square meter (that's 3x3 ft.), making the Metro’s clever new catch phrase – Share your metro2 (“metro” is Spanish for “meter”) – more of a misery than a Spanish play on words.

Many Metro passengers were forced to wait for five trains to pass before being lucky enough to grab a couple of square inches in an available car, even with trains running every 90 seconds, their maximum capacity. Before the Transantiago overhaul, the Santiago’s Metro carried an average of one million passengers a day.


Chile’s national media was quick to compare the new reality of Santiago’s crowded Metro to the underground system of Tokyo, where world-famous guards wear rubber gloves to push people into subway cars as doors close. Many speculated as to whether Santiago’s Metro would face many of the problems associated with crowding in Tokyo. Over 2,000 cases of sexual harassment are reported each year on the Nipponese subway, and authorities have had to create special women-and-children-only subway cars as a result...

Click HERE to read the entire article.
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To give you a better understanding of how missionaries calculate how much things cost, here is a math problem for you and your family to solve:

Using the photo below, how much would it cost for a family of 4 to ride the metro during rush hour (the yellow price)?
-1 US Dollar is $585 Chilean pesos.
-1 of the four in the family gets the student (estudiante) rate.



(click for larger view)
Let's see how many can get the answer right. Post your answers by clicking on the comment link below.